‘Stampede’ erupts at Melbourne’s Join Cain Arena for US R&B artist Steve Lacy’s concert 

Chaos has erupted at a Melbourne concert as revellers rushed towards the front of the stage in a stampede resulting in some blacking out or getting crushed.

The incident occurred at US R&B artist Steve Lacy’s performance at John Cain Arena on Tuesday night.

The singer is touring Australia’s east coast as part of his Give You the World Tour.

Tickets to the event were all general admission meaning there was no select seating or standing at the ground, and it was on a ‘first come, first serve’ basis.

Fans were allowed to stand anywhere once the gates to the ground were opened, prompting revellers to instantly rush towards the front of the stage.

Many passed out in the midst of the mayhem, with others having panic attacks as they were crushed near the front of the stage.

The event was organised by promoters, Penny Drop and Frontier Touring.

Attendees took to social media to detail their experiences at the concert and blamed the lack of security and the poor organisation for the stampede.

‘The worst organised concert I’ve ever been to, I almost fainted I swear to god. someone literally could’ve died just trying to get in the arena,’ said one concern goer on Twitter.

Another users told the promoters: ‘Embarrassingly and dangerous planning last night at Steve Lacy. You should be embarrassed and issue a public apology.’

‘People blocking walkways and exits, stampede at the start and almost no security staff.’

‘The Melbourne Steve lacy concert was the most poorly organised event I have ever been to, wtf John Cain arena, luckily Steve is a g (sic) and the concert was elite!’ commented a third.

Lacy (pictured) is currently touring Australia’s east coast and will be performing in Brisbane and Sydney

‘Went to Steve Lacy Melbourne with the most unorganised security, saw people get stomped on, couldn’t breathe, security did nothing,’ added another.

‘There was literal riots trynna (sic) get in…had like four panic attacks, a girl almost died in front of me.’

Melbourne & Olympic Parks, Frontier Touring and Penny Drop told Daily Mail Australia that concert attendees were informed about the organisation of the event beforehand.

‘Melbourne & Olympic Parks deployed significant communication ahead of the Steve Lacy concert at John Cain Arena, to advise guests that as a general admission event, access to the floor area would be on a first come-first-serve basis.’ 

The promoter said this is a ‘standard venue format utilised at venues across Australia and New Zealand’.

‘Our venue management team had a detailed plan in place to manage ingress into the venue, with security present throughout the day to ensure patron welfare, coordinate the queue outside the venue and wristband patrons seeking to access the general admission floor.’

The stampede at the concert left several revellers injured and caused others to faint. Some fans took to social media to slam the tour promoters for the poor organisation of the event

They added that ‘unfortunately, once doors were open, a number of guests towards the back of the queue pushed forward, creating crowding near the entry’.

‘In response to this behaviour from the crowd, security was deployed to maintain the integrity of the venue’s security check and ingress process.’

‘Once inside the venue, guests were met by venue staff, walked inside the seating bowl, and sat down on the floor in an orderly manner until the show commenced, in line with plans enacted with all floor shows.’

Melbourne & Olympic Parks maintained that they had ‘rigorous safety processes’ in place and an ambulance was onsite to treat fans who were injured.

Lacy is scheduled to play at Riverstage in Brisbane on Wednesday night before heading to Sydney to perform at the Hordern Pavillion this Sunday and next Monday.